Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups by Category (2025)

It’s important to have a plan when scouring the fantasy baseball waiver wire or placing your weekly free agent acquisition budget (FAAB) bids. Below are some players rostered in fewer than 50% of fantasy baseball leagues to consider who have gotten hot recently.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups

Runs

Mike Yastrzemski (OF – KC) | 8% on Yahoo; 6% on ESPN

Mike Yastrzemski has looked great since arriving in Kansas City. In 25 games, he’s batting .282 with 19 runs, seven home runs and 13 RBI. He’s taken over the leadoff spot against righties, and he’s striking out only 13% of the time. He’s long been a middling player for fantasy purposes, but appears to have something working with the Royals.

Home Runs & RBI

Colson Montgomery (SS – CWS) | 34% on Yahoo; 13% on ESPN

Colson Montgomery is at it again. He went four straight games with a homer last week, and that marks the fifth time this season he’s had a homer in consecutive games. In 45 games, he’s batting .224 with 25 runs, 14 home runs and 37 RBI.

Montgomery’s barrel rate is equal to that of Matt Olson and Spencer Torkelson, and his max exit velocity is in the 93rd percentile. He has some of the best young power in the league.

Stolen Bases

Isaac Collins (OF – MIL) | 18% on Yahoo; 9% on ESPN

Isaac Collins has been solid in his first full season in the majors. He’s batting .277 with 51 runs, eight home runs, 49 RBI and 16 stolen bases. He’s not the fastest player (57th percentile sprint speed), but he had 109 stolen bases in the Minors across five seasons. Collins has a great walk rate and doesn’t strike out too much, leading to more on-base opportunities.

Batting Average

Tyler Freeman (OF – COL) | 9% on Yahoo; 3% on ESPN

Tyler Freeman moved to the leadoff spot at the end of June and has been serviceable for fantasy managers. For the year, he’s batting .287 with 38 runs, two home runs, 26 RBI and 17 steals in 91 games.

Freeman’s expected batting average is in the 82nd percentile, and his strikeout rate is in the 96th percentile. He’ll never be a source of power, but his batting average and speed can be useful.

Wins

Charlie Morton (SP – DET) | 34% on Yahoo; 10% on ESPN

Charlie Morton has looked better for the Detroit Tigers. Since being acquired at the trade deadline, he has a 4.61 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, but an 11.8 K/9 in 27.1 innings. He’s had two bad starts and three quality starts, where he combined to give up only three total runs. Morton has two starts next week against the Mets and the White Sox.

Strikeouts

Emmet Sheehan (SP – LAD) | 31% on Yahoo; 9% on ESPN

Emmet Sheehan had the best start of his career last time out against the Reds. He went seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits, a walk and no runs, while striking out 10 batters. This outing marked the first time he has completed the sixth inning in back-to-back starts, picking up two wins in the process.

Sheehan’s strikeout rate is nearing 28% (5% higher than the league average), and he pitches for the team with the best chance to win any given game.

ERA & WHIP

Parker Messick (SP – CLE) | 19% on Yahoo; 7% on ESPN

Parker Messick has been unreal through his first two career starts. He’s combined for 13.2 innings, allowing a single run on 11 hits, one walk and striking out 12. While it’s unrealistic for him to keep this kind of production up, he ran a pretty good ERA and strikeout rates in the Minors. He has two starts next week — a tough one against the Red Sox and the other versus the Rays.

Saves

JoJo Romero (RP – STL) | 23% on Yahoo; 6% on ESPN

JoJo Romero is tied for eighth in the league with five saves since the trade deadline. He has a 2.77 ERA, 1.69 WHIP and 6.9 K/9 since August 1st. He has been shaky, to say the least, but he has figured out a way to limit the runs. Romero is the only lefty in the Cardinals’ bullpen, so he may be used at other times in games, but he’s the best option they have.